Health authorities have reported another sighting of a rabid raccoon in the metro Atlanta area, this one involving a diseased animal that may have infected a dog in Hall County, Channel 2 Action News reports.
The raccoon came into contact with the dog Tuesday near Poplar Springs and Cedar Hill roads in the southern part of the county, officials said.
The animal was captured, and the Georgia Public Health Laboratory confirmed it tested positive for rabies on Thursday, the Gainesville Times reported. It was Hall County's ninth rabies case this year.
On July 23, a raccoon that turned up in a horse’s stall in Canton tested positive for rabies, prompting Cherokee County health officials to quarantine the unvaccinated horse and issue an alert. It was the fourth rabid raccoon found since May in that county.
Besides the raccoon cases, a dog and a fox in Cherokee also have been found to have rabies.
In May, Gwinnett County issued a rabies alert after two children were attacked by a fox near Lawrenceville. Police shot and killed the animal, and it tested positive for the disease.
Elsewhere in Gwinnett, a cat in Duluth was found to be rabid in May, while a raccoon tested positive for the disease in Braselton in April.
More information about rabies is available on a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
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